Archive for the ‘BNO’ Category

If you remember I blamed Jennifer here for inspiring people to misspell
their children’s names to make them unique.

I was WRONG.

This has been happening for at least 100 years and probably longer. What
do they say? “Every generation thinks they need to re-invent the wheel?” I
googled it and it doesn’t pop up, I am sure it is something like that.

ANYWHO…

A random sampling from 1910:

We have Stephanie with the “unique” spellings of Stephenie and Stephany.

I found that the Social Security website has a plethora of documents in regards to baby names which stretches back to 1882.

1882 are you freaking kidding me?!

This is beyond exciting and more interesting than combing through the 2011 list, because it gives you way more than just the top 1000. Awesome for me because I want to see the bizarre and unusual, but the thing that sucked me in is what I will refer to as the Jennifer Phenomenon.

Lots of phenomena happening on this blog

In my first BNO post, I mentioned that I was happy we had a son due to our my #1 name choice for a girl (Sophia), ending up being the most popular girl name of 2011. Our child narrowly avoided being referred to as Sophia N. for the all of her K-12 schooling. Whew

There were 21,695 baby girls named Sophia in 2011 and 22 boys with a ton of combinations.

Looking at the stats for Sophia made me think about the most popular name of all time and how it struck fear into parents.

JENNIFER

If you were born in the 70s or 80s you know/know of/knew of approximately fifteen Jennifer’s.

They were/are everywhere.

I hold Jennifer responsible for the 70s/80s group, who are now having children and trying to be “unique”, due to their worry about their kid being one of many with the same name.

This made me wonder what the numbers for Jennifer actually are and if this is something that should be a huge concern when naming ones child.

Stats:

Between 1970 and 1984 Jennifer held the #1 spot.

14 years is RIDICULOUS!

At her peak she was the name of 63,604 in 1972; compare that to Sophia which had 21,695 in 2011.

In that 14 year time span the total was 859,112, only falling below the 50,000 mark in the first year at a low of 46,154. This number doesn’t include when she fell below the number 1 spot but was still in the top ten.

There would have had to of been 40,000 more Sophia’s to match Jennifer.

This tells me that if you stay out of today’s top twenty five the odds of a your kid sharing his/her name are drastically lower than they were even 20 30 (I forgot that I’m getting old) years ago.

Hopped out of bed and grabbed my coffee diet Pepsi (I know, I know the aspartame is giving me cancer) and posted up in my nook.

First and foremost, I would like to mention that I was right about Sophia being #1 when I wrote my confessional BNO post.

Girls:

All top 10 from last year in the girl category stayed the same with some minor rearrangement.

Sophia kicked Isabella’s little booty down to the #2 spot.

Emma, Olivia, Ava, Emily, Abigail and Madison held on to their rank.

Mia edged out Chloe to take #9 leaving her with #10.

Interesting movements:

Addison, which didn’t even clear the top 100 prior to 2006 has been made popular by the lovely Kate Walsh. Who plays Dr. Addison Montgomery on Grey’s Anatomy/Private Practice which started in 2005-2007. Over the past seven years has seen a jump from 106 to 13 this year, which is down two spots from last year. Not to give Ms. Walsh all of the credit, I see Addison prior to Grey’s as being a modified Madison.

Bristol GAY-hating Palin pushed her name to make an appearance in the top 1000 in 2009 at 666 (the irony) and has jumped 100 spots in each subsequent year.

Notable mentions:

Rivka –to bind

Milagros –religious folk charms that are traditionally used for healing purposes and as votive offerings in Mexico

Milana – favored

Ximena – Spanish form Simone – hear, listen

Aracely – Heavenly Homemaker (seems a little chauvinistic)

Boys:

Jacob still reigns supreme at #1, with Mason (love the name) jumping from #12 to #2 (dislike that the jump is most likely from Kardashians) kicking Anthony out of the top ten.

Besides that movement the top ten remains the same as 2010 albeit in a different order: Jacob, Mason, William, Jayden, Noah, Michael, Ethan, Alexander, Aiden, and Daniel.

For the love of God, please stop changing the spelling of names to make them “unique”; it doesn’t.

Adding a “Y” to a boy’s name makes it look feminine; Mayson and Kayden.

*Just my opinion and only that; please don’t stab me take it personally.

Notable Mentions:

Clinton – Almost fell out of the top 1000 last year at #993 but has made a subtle comeback to #923; I mention this name because it was #211 in 1992. Did Wild Bill have anything to do with that?!

Maxwell – Makes the list #134 for BOYS this year, I wonder if that will change due to Jessica Simpson naming her DAUGHTER Maxwell.

Personal Mentions:

Our baby Leo’s name moved from 192 to 167; we are seeing it everywhere as well. From IKEA Commercials (Leo Proof Kitchen; can’t find the video for it),characters in movies and T.V. shows to celebrity babies.

Friend’s choices, that have had a baby last year or having a baby this year:

Alexander – 6 to 8

Dylan – 31 to 33

Asher – 138 to 113

Zoe – stayed the same at 31

Mia – 10 to 9

That’s my breakdown.*

New girl name, I am loving is Adelaide and Joey is a big fan of Hannah.

Ok, I am done. If you are still reading this, you either really love me or you’re just as crazy as I am.

Either way I am digging it.

*I have delved deeper; you know what that means, right?! Another BNO post coming your way.